What We Believe - How can we respond?

Pastor Rudiger is leading a 5-week class immediately after the worship service. During each meeting, we’ll discuss one of the basic questions on which our faith is grounded. This is a great opportunity for anyone who may be interested in joining our congregation but who still may have some questions about the word “presbyterian.” During this fifth session, we looked at the question:  How can we respond?

• John 14:23 -  Jesus replied: If anyone loves me, they will obey me. Then my Father will love them, and we will come to them and live in them.
• Proverbs 28:13 - If you don’t confess your sins, you will be a failure. But God will be merciful if you confess your sins and give them up.
• James 5:16 - If you have sinned, you should tell each other what you have done. Then you can pray for one another and be healed. The prayer of an innocent person is powerful, and it can help a lot.
• James 2:18, 22 -Suppose someone disagrees and says, “It is possible to have faith without doing kind deeds.”I would answer, “Prove that you have faith without doing kind deeds, and I will prove that I have faith by doing them.” Now you see how Abraham’s faith and deeds worked together. He proved that his faith was real by what he did.
• Matthew 28:19-20 - Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to do everything I have told you. I will be with you always, even until the end of the world.
• I Corinthians 13:3 - What if I gave away all that I owned and let myself be burned alive?  I would gain nothing, unless I loved others.
• Romans 8:35-39 - Can anything separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble, suffering, and hard times, or hunger and nakedness, or danger and death? It is exactly as the Scriptures say, “For you we face death   all day long. We are like sheep on their way to be butchered.” In everything we have won more than a victory because of Christ who loves us. I am sure that nothing can separate us from God’s love—not life or death, not angels or spirits, not the present or the future, and not powers above or powers below. Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord!

What We Believe - What does the Holy Spirit do?

Pastor Rudiger is leading a 5-week class immediately after the worship service. During each meeting, we’ll discuss one of the basic questions on which our faith is grounded. This is a great opportunity for anyone who may be interested in joining our congregation but who still may have some questions about the word “presbyterian.” During this fourth session, we looked at the question:  What does the Holy Spirit do? 

I Corinthians 2:10-14 - these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual. Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 

John 3:3-8 - Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 

Ezekiel 36:26, 27 - A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.

Ephesians 1:17, 18 - I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints,

I Corinthians 12:1-11 - Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. 

Galatians 5:22-25 - By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.  

What We Believe - Why did Christ come?

Pastor Rudiger is leading a 5-week class immediately after the worship service. During each meeting, we’ll discuss one of the basic questions on which our faith is grounded. This is a great opportunity for anyone who may be interested in joining our congregation but who still may have some questions about the word “presbyterian.” During this third session, we looked at the question: Why did Christ come? 

Luke 19:10 - The Son of Man came to look for and to save people who are lost.”

John 6:35-40 - Jesus replied: I am the bread that gives life! No one who comes to me will ever be hungry. No one who has faith in me will ever be thirsty. I have told you already that you have seen me and still do not have faith in me. Everything and everyone that the Father has given me will come to me, and I won’t turn any of them away. I didn’t come from heaven to do what I want! I came to do what the Father wants me to do. He sent me, and he wants to make certain that none of the ones he has given me will be lost. Instead, he wants me to raise them to life on the last day. My Father wants everyone who sees the Son to have faith in him and to have eternal life. Then I will raise them to life on the last day.

John 10:11, 14-18 - I am the good shepherd, and the good shepherd gives up his life for his sheep. ...I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep, and they know me. Just as the Father knows me, I know the Father, and I give up my life for my sheep. I have other sheep that are not in this sheep pen. I must bring them together too, when they hear my voice. Then there will be one flock of sheep and one shepherd. The Father loves me, because I give up my life, so that I may receive it back again. No one takes my life from me. I give it up willingly! I have the power to give it up and the power to receive it back again, just as my Father commanded me to do.

Romans 5:10 - Even when we were God’s enemies, he made peace with us, because his Son died for us. Yet something even greater than friendship is ours. Now that we are at peace with God, we will be saved by his Son’s life.

Romans 6:1-11 - What should we say? Should we keep on sinning, so that God’s wonderful kindness will show up even better? No, we should not! If we are dead to sin, how can we go on sinning? Don’t you know that all who share in Christ Jesus by being baptized also share in his death? When we were baptized, we died and were buried with Christ. We were baptized, so that we would live a new life, as Christ was raised to life by the glory of God the Father. If we shared in Jesus' death by being baptized, we will be raised to life with him. We know that the persons we used to be were nailed to the cross with Jesus. This was done, so that our sinful bodies would no longer be the slaves of sin. We know that sin doesn’t have power over dead people. As surely as we died with Christ, we believe we will also live with him. We know that death no longer has any power over Christ. He died and was raised to life, never again to die. When Christ died, he died for sin once and for all. But now he is alive, and he lives only for God. In the same way, you must think of yourselves as dead to the power of sin. But Christ Jesus has given life to you, and you live for God.

1 Corinthians 15:20-23 - But Christ has been raised to life! And he makes us certain that others will also be raised to life. Just as we will die because of Adam, we will be raised to life because of Christ. Adam brought death to all of us, and Christ will bring life to all of us. But we must each wait our turn. Christ was the first to be raised to life, and his people will be raised to life when he returns.

Hebrews 7:24–8:6 - But Jesus will never die, and so he will be a priest forever! He is forever able to save the people he leads to God, because he always lives to speak to God for them. Jesus is the high priest we need. He is holy and innocent and faultless, and not at all like us sinners. Jesus is honored above all beings in heaven, and he is better than any other high priest. Jesus doesn’t need to offer sacrifices each day for his own sins and then for the sins of the people. He offered a sacrifice once for all, when he gave himself. The Law appoints priests who have weaknesses. But God’s promise, which came later than the Law, appoints his Son. And he is the perfect high priest forever. What I mean is that we have a high priest who sits at the right side of God’s great throne in heaven. He also serves as the priest in the most holy place inside the real tent there in heaven. This tent of worship was set up by the Lord, not by humans. Since all priests must offer gifts and sacrifices, Christ also needed to have something to offer. If he were here on earth, he would not be a priest at all, because here the Law appoints other priests to offer sacrifices. But the tent where they serve is just a copy and a shadow of the real one in heaven. Before Moses made the tent, he was told, “Be sure to make it exactly like the pattern you were shown on the mountain!” Now Christ has been appointed to serve as a priest in a much better way, and he has given us much assurance of a better agreement.

What We Believe - Who Is God?

Pastor Rudiger is leading a 5-week class immediately after the worship service. During each meeting, we’ll discuss one of the basic questions on which our faith is grounded. This is a great opportunity for anyone who may be interested in joining our congregation but who still may have some questions about the word “presbyterian.” During this second session, we looked at the question: Who Is God? 

Below are the passages we considered during the class:

I Corinthians 8:4, 6 - Even though food is offered to idols, we know that none of the idols in this world are alive. After all, there is only one God. ...We have only one God, and he is the Father. He created everything, and we live for him. Jesus Christ is our only Lord. Everything was made by him, and by him life was given to us.

I Timothy 1:17 -  I pray that honor and glory will always be given to the only God, who lives forever and is the invisible and eternal King! Amen.

I John 4:8-10 - God is love, and anyone who doesn’t love others has never known him. God showed his love for us when he sent his only Son into the world to give us life. Real love isn’t our love for God, but his love for us. God sent his Son to be the sacrifice by which our sins are forgiven.

Malachi 3:6 - Descendants of Jacob, I am the Lord All-Powerful, and I never change. That’s why you haven’t been wiped out,

I Peter 2:8, 9 - They disobeyed the message and stumbled and fell over that stone, because they were doomed.  But you are God’s chosen and special people. You are a group of royal priests and a holy nation. God has brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now you must tell all the wonderful things that he has done.  

Ephesians 1:4 - Before the world was created, God had Christ choose us to live with him and to be his holy and innocent and loving people.

Romans 9:10-16 - Don’t forget what happened to the twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah. Even before they were born or had done anything good or bad, the Lord told Rebekah that her older son would serve the younger one. The Lord said this to show that he makes his own choices and that it wasn’t because of anything either of them had done. That’s why the Scriptures say that the Lord liked Jacob more than Esau. Are we saying that God is unfair? Certainly not! The Lord told Moses that he has pity and mercy on anyone he wants to. Everything then depends on God’s mercy and not on what people want or do.

John 15:16 - You did not choose me. I chose you and sent you out to produce fruit, the kind of fruit that will last. Then my Father will give you whatever you ask for in my name.

What We Believe - Who Are We?

Pastor Rudiger is leading a 5-week class immediately after the worship service. During each meeting, we’ll discuss one of the basic questions on which our faith is grounded. This is a great opportunity for anyone who may be interested in joining our congregation but who still may have some questions about the word “presbyterian.” During this first session, we looked at the question: Who Are We? 

Below are the passages we considered during the class:

• Ecclesiastes 9:1-3 - I thought about these things. Then I understood that God has power over everyone, even those of us who are wise and live right. Anything can happen to any of us, and so we never know if life will be good or bad. But exactly the same thing will finally happen to all of us, whether we live right and respect God or sin and don’t respect God. Yes, the same thing will happen if we offer sacrifices to God or if we don’t, if we keep our promises or break them. It’s terribly unfair for the same thing to happen to each of us. We are mean and foolish while we live, and then we die.
• John 6:44 - No one can come to me, unless the Father who sent me makes them want to come. But if they do come, I will raise them to life on the last day.
• Romans 1:18-32 - From heaven God shows how angry he is with all the wicked and evil things that sinful people do to crush the truth. They know everything that can be known about God, because God has shown it all to them. God’s eternal power and character cannot be seen. But from the beginning of creation, God has shown what these are like by all he has made. That’s why those people don’t have any excuse. They know about God, but they don’t honor him or even thank him. Their thoughts are useless, and their stupid minds are in the dark. They claim to be wise, but they are fools. They don’t worship the glorious and eternal God. Instead, they worship idols that are made to look like humans who cannot live forever, and like birds, animals, and reptiles. So God let these people go their own way. They did what they wanted to do, and their filthy thoughts made them do shameful things with their bodies. They gave up the truth about God for a lie, and they worshiped God’s creation instead of God, who will be praised forever. Amen. God let them follow their own evil desires. Women no longer wanted to have sex in a natural way, and they did things with each other that were not natural. Men behaved in the same way. They stopped wanting to have sex with women and had strong desires for sex with other men. They did shameful things with each other, and what has happened to them is punishment for their foolish deeds. Since these people refused even to think about God, he let their useless minds rule over them. That’s why they do all sorts of indecent things. They are evil, wicked, and greedy, as well as mean in every possible way. They want what others have, and they murder, argue, cheat, and are hard to get along with. They gossip, say cruel things about others, and hate God. They are proud, conceited, and boastful, always thinking up new ways to do evil. These people don’t respect their parents. They are stupid, unreliable, and don’t have any love or pity for others. They know God has said that anyone who acts this way deserves to die. But they keep on doing evil things, and they even encourage others to do them.
• Romans 3:9-12 - What does all this mean? Does it mean that we Jews are better off than the Gentiles? No, it doesn’t! Jews, as well as Gentiles, are ruled by sin, just as I have said. The Scriptures tell us, “No one is acceptable to God! Not one of them understands or even searches for God. They have all turned away and are worthless. There isn’t one person who does right.
• Romans 5:12 -  Adam sinned, and that sin brought death into the world. Now everyone has sinned, and so everyone must die.
• Romans 8:7-8 - Our desires fight against God, because they do not and cannot obey God’s laws. 8 If we follow our desires, we cannot please God.